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In an interview with the Guardian, Brin claims that the threat comes from governments trying to control access and communications, the entertainment industry's piracy crackdowns and 'walled gardens' from the likes of Apple and Facebook.

Brin warned of oppressive governments but also took issue with Facebook and Apple's proprietary platforms.

"There's a lot to be lost," he explains. "For example, all the information in apps - that data is not crawlable by web crawlers. You can't search it."

Creating Google today would not have been possible if Facebook dominated the internet, Brin said.

"The kind of environment that we developed Google in, the reason that we were able to develop a search engine, is the web was so open. Once you get too many rules, that will stifle innovation."

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